By Heather Radu-

After 13 long years of wear and tear, it was definitely time to bring the “cozy factor” back into House 6. Here are some of the exciting changes that were made during my fall trip to Dorie’s Promise:

• The entire home was freshly painted, including the ceilings. There was a large moldy closet off of the large girls’ room that was treated and repainted. It will become a walk-in closet for the six girls who are in that room.
• One of our teams bought a new TV for the children.
• We purchased new couches and chairs. It is so great to be able to now seat all of our kids comfortably in the living room. Plus, it’s much more open for when teams want to join our kids in the home.
• We added carpet in the living room.
• Curtains were added to both living and dining areas.
• The wood staircase and some damaged furniture, doors, and baseboards were repaired.
• We put little tables and chairs on the deck of House 6 so that the teens had a place to relax/do homework away from the younger children.
• Pablo, Abel, and Jessica helped us plant 10 flower boxes so that each home had some on each deck. The special moms were so excited about the flowers! It really brightened up the dining room. Additional flowers were planted up the driveway.
• The bars were removed from most of the windows in both 5 and 6. It no longer feels like a jail.
• Child safety locks were installed on the sliding doors to the decks
• The old couch/chair and love seat from House 6 are being recovered to be used in House 5.
• The backyard looks great. We have a team coming in April that plans to build a playhouse for the kids. This is the same team that built the play structure.

Whew! That was a lot of work for such a short time. I want to thank everyone who helped us, especially Ashley and her team. She has a work program for young men and has developed it nicely. They were a great help with this project.

You can’t imagine how excited the moms and kids were to have the homes transformed. It really was high time for the changes. This was by far one of the best and most productive trips I’ve made in a long time. Our staff and kids are doing great. We had some tough changes this summer, but during this trip I was able to see how the Lord really does “work all things together for good.”

If you want to help us continue to improve the home environment for our children, CLICK HERE for our gift registry. Among what’s needed, we are praying for a new van, security cameras, upgraded Internet service, and new roofing for House 6. You can help in big and small ways; we also have listed clothing, toys, and educational materials that the children need.

As always, thanks for your continued support of the ministry.